A patch
by rosehill
Summary: Maybe you’re going to hate me but this oneshot is about Mark and I’m not bashing him. Set in season 2.


Synopsis: maybe you're going to hate me but this oneshot is about Mark and I'm not bashing him. Set in season 2.

Disclaimer: I don't own Galactik Football and I'm not making any money with this fic.

_A patch_

Four years ago, Aarch had announced that he wanted to create a new football team for Akilian. I applied to become part of it, like a lot of kids, but I was not chosen.

I didn't make a fuss. Things like that happen. The thing was, my two friends D'Jok and Micro-Ice were chosen and became part of the team. We still remained friends but whenever we saw again, they kept boasting about their cup and saying how great it was to have won it.

I was happy for them, I swear. They're my friends and I can't hate them for being happy. But maybe I was a bit envious. That's a human emotion, after all. I was introduced to some other team members later and I had no reason for hating them, either.

Then they went to the Genesis Stadium again for the next cup. And one day, my dad called me and said Aarch wanted me to join them as soon as possible. They had a problem with Rocket and they wanted me to replace him temporarily.

Replacing Rocket, what a lot of pressure… Replacing anybody else on the stadium would already have been difficult, but him… He's one of the best passers alive, Aarch's nephew, the son of another great football player, he was the captain of the team that won the last cup when he was only sixteen, he might become the son-by-law of an ambassador one day and, even if my mom thinks I'm handsome, I know he's way better-looking than me. I was told to replace a _legend_. What could I do?

I tried to do my best. Ok, maybe I was a bit mean to Micro-Ice. I'm not proud of it. But I always had the feeling nobody really wanted me. Oh, D'Jok and Micro-Ice were cool. They took for granted that everything was okay, that's them. Yuki, who also had to replace a legend (his cousin can win matches while _sleeping, _after all) was probably ever more worried about her place in the team than me. She didn't mind me and her cousins didn't mind me either. Nobody minded me.

But they acted as if their only hope was to see me disappear as soon as possible. I was a patch, I was not as good as Rocket. One day, when I was walking in a corridor, I heard a girl crying in a bedroom. I got closer and I heard Tia saying something like: "I just hate it. And I can't play the same way as before, you know. He was the soul of the team. I could always feel he was there for all of us on the field. Now there's just a hollow place."

I know I shouldn't have held it against Tia for speaking like that. She just missed her boyfriend and she was worried about him. And I'm definitely not as good as him on the field. But I couldn't help feeling hurt for being called a 'hollow place'. And Meï didn't protest. I just heard her saying something like "I miss him on the field, too. But he loves you and he'll come back sooner or later". And I went back to my bedroom.

I can't blame Meï for being a good friend. And I can't blame Tia, either. She was always polite with me but she remained aloof and hardly talked to me during the training sessions. I guess I was the living proof that her boyfriend was not there for her.

Then, one night, one of the Rykers players told me about something spectacular that happened every night. I went, expecting something fun, and, well, I saw Rocket playing netherball in the Sphere.

This was a real shock for me. I had always thought of him as a _politically correct_ person (if you see what I mean). But there he was, hurting other players while crazy people were cheering him. What could I do, waiting until he had left the Sphere and say: "hello, you shouldn't stay in this nasty place, be a nice boy and follow me?" Impossible.

I know I should have warned someone at once. I acted like a jerk that night. But I was slightly afraid of their reactions. Telling them that their goody-goody former captain had gone rogue couldn't be easy. So I waited. I told myself I was waiting for the right moment. But the more I waited, the more difficult it got.

And, well, I know it's selfish but in a way, I _wanted_ him to remain in the Sphere. I didn't want to leave my friends and go back to Akilian. I thought that if I waited a bit more, I could improve my football skills and Aarch would keep me in the team as a reserve player.

I eventually told them what was going on. They were not happy, of course, what was I expecting? They were not happy with their former captain's reaction when they went to see him, either. He just said he wanted to remain in the Sphere. I started wishing someone else had found him first: he/she would have acted at once and things wouldn't have gone so bad.

I carried on replacing him. Yuki also replaced Tia during our match against the Rykers and I couldn't help noticing how different they play. Tia always seem to avoid me (again, I can't blame her) while Yuki relied more on me. I know: she acted like that because she was inexperienced. Maybe I should have been nicer with her. She was a patch like me, after all. I guess I can't change the past.

Tia eventually managed to get Rocket back from the Sphere. He nearly broke her leg in the process but she didn't seem to mind. I guess popular kids can afford to injure their girlfriend and remain unpunished while unpopular kids like me get bashed whatever they do. We all went back to training and we did as if anything serious had ever happened.

I'm not sure if I'm going to apply for the team in four years. What would be the point? Nobody likes me. You'll never see me again, anyway.

_The end…_

Author's note: you may hate me for having written this. I know it's very unlike most fics about Mark but honestly, I'm a bit tired of all that pointless bashing about him. You have the right not to like Mark and I'm not particularly fond of him but I really think he's just a badly-written character.


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